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Al Jazeera America’s inevitable collapse has begun with the elimination of all of its morning programming. Instead of producing its own programming, the basement-rated cable news network will simply re-broadcast Al Jazeera programs from its parent studio in Qatar. Also canceled is the late morning program, “Consider This With Antonio Mora.”

Mediabistro reports that behind-the-scenes staffers will be reassigned and “the fate of on-air talent is unclear.” Variety, however, reports that primetime anchors Ali Velshi and Joie Chen will have less airtime and mid-to-late afternoon programming is also on the chopping block.

Although the Qatar government that backs Al Jazeerra America has enough money to keep the network going until the end of time and beyond, the real problem isn’t ratings. MSNBC and CNN’s ratings are not much better than AJA’s.

No, the problem for AJA has always been traction and impact. Even though no one watches MSNBC and CNN, both of those left-wing cable news networks still have an impact on America’s political and cultural debates. AJA has never penetrated in that way.

Not once.

Since its launch in August of 2013, not a single AJA story has ever had any kind of impact on the American news narrative.

Not a single interview, YouTube moment, or AJA report has ever been anything other than a tree in a forest that no one heard fall.

Other than its obvious brand problem, the last thing America needed was yet another left-wing, terrorist-appeasing, America-hating news outlet.

This letter is being sent to you on behalf of the Qatar Awareness Campaign Coalition. The purpose is to inform you and the public of the activities of Qatar, the country which owns Al Jazeera America, the network which was established following your sale of CurrentTV to Al Jazeera for $500 million in 2013.

As cited below, in fact, you and your business partner, Mr. Joel Hyatt, engaged in two major transactions with Qatar: first the purchase of Newsworld International in 2004, from which you launched CurrentTV; secondly, the selling back of the station to Qatar to broadcast Al Jazeera America, for the price of $500 million.

We urge to you read the information below, which includes evidence that Qatar is arguably the preeminent sponsor of terror in the world today. It is a benefactor of the genocidal armies of ISIS, al Qaeda, and Boko Haram; it is involved in Taliban narcotics trafficking through a relationship with the Pakistani National Logistics Cell; and profits from operating a virtual slave state.

Qatar is involved in terror operations from Nigeria to Gaza to Syria to Iraq.

Here is pertinent background on your involvement with the Doha-based network, and their ties to Islamists who promote mass murder of religious and ethnic minorities over the airwaves.

In 1996, then Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, provided a $137 million loan to start Al Jazeera. Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was the ruling monarch of Qatar from 1995-2013.

Al Jazeera is home to the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who reaches an estimated 80 million viewers each week. Qaradawi has ordered the killing of Jews, and Shiite Muslims in Syria.

In 2004, you and your partner Joel Hyatt (who is a Trustee of the Qatar-financed Brookings Institute) purchased Newsworld International from Vivendi Universal Entertainment to establish CurrentTV. Vivendi was (and is) partially owned by Qatar Holding.

In 2013, CurrentTV was sold to Al Jazeera for a reported $500 million. Owning 20% of the company, you reportedly profited personally $100 million from the sale.

In September 2014, you and Hyatt sued Al Jazeera for funds that remained in escrow. Al Jazeera has now filed a countersuit.

Your lawsuits notwithstanding, in light of Al Jazeera’s consistent and vocal support for the Muslim Brotherhood and various jihadi groups, we ask that you consider the attached sourced report on Qatar’s activities. The links cited are vetted and credible sources. We hope you take the time to verify the truth of the statements for yourself.

After doing so, the Coalition of the Qatar Awareness Campaign calls on you to exert due influence on the Qatari government to cease any type of involvement in all forms of Islamic terrorism, slavery, and drug trafficking!

** Select signatures as of 9/27. The Qatar Awareness Campaign Coalition is comprised of more than 25 journalists, national security experts, publishers, and independent researchers. To view all Coalition participants, please visit the Campaign’s website.

Ms. Malika Bilal and Ms. Femi Oke

Al Jazeera English

PO Box 23127

Doha – Qatar

Dear Ms. Bilal and Ms. Femi Oke:

This letter is being sent to you on behalf of the Qatar Awareness Campaign Coalition. The purpose is to inform you and the public of the activities of Qatar, the country which owns Al Jazeera, the network on which you are co-hosts of the program, The Stream.

We urge to you read the information below, which includes evidence that Qatar is arguably the preeminent sponsor of terror in the world today. It is a benefactor of the genocidal armies of ISIS, al Qaeda, and Boko Haram; it is involved in Taliban narcotics trafficking through a relationship with the Pakistani National Logistics Cell; and profits from operating a virtual slave state. Qatar is involved in terror operations from Nigeria to Gaza to Syria to Iraq.

So the public understands why this letter is addressed to you both, who are American citizens and co-hosts of an Al Jazeera daily program, here is pertinent background on the Doha-based network.

In 1996, then Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, provided a $137 million loan to start Al Jazeera. Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was the ruling monarch of Qatar from 1995-2013.

Al Jazeera is based out of Doha, the capital of Qatar.

In July 2013, 22 employees of Al Jazeera resigned after the station “air[ed] lies and misle[d] viewers” (according to Al Jazeera correspondent) regarding the Egyptian revolution on July 4, which ousted Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi.

Al Jazeera is home to the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader (and Morsi-backer) Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who reaches an estimated 80 million viewers each week.

In light of Al Jazeera’s consistent and vocal support for the Muslim Brotherhood and their associated terror campaigns, we ask that you consider the attached sourced report on Qatar’s activities. Thelinks cited are vetted and credible sources. We hope you take the time to verify the truth of the statements for yourself.

After doing so, the Coalition of the Qatar Awareness Campaign calls on you to exert due influence on the Qatari government to cease any type of involvement in all forms of Islamic terrorism, slavery, and drug trafficking!

** Select signatures as of 9/27. The Qatar Awareness Campaign Coalition is comprised of more than 25 journalists, national security experts, publishers, and independent researchers. To view all Coalition participants, please visit the Campaign’s website.

On Friday, Egyptian security forces took out the leader of Muslim Brotherhood affiliated terrorist group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in the Sinai Peninsula. An Egyptian army spokesman said the operation was a success, as forces neutralized six “extremely dangerous criminal elements.” Egyptian military sources confirmed Shadi al-Menei, the leader of the terrorist group, was executed in the raid.

Al Jazeera, in reporting the news story, did not make any mention of the Muslim Brotherhood’s association with the terrorist group. It may come as no surprise to some, as 22 members of Al Jazeera Egyptian bureau resigned in 2013 after some complained that management would instruct all staff to favor the Muslim Brotherhood party-line in their reporting. Al Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar, which is run by the oil-rich Al Thani family. One of its members, Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim, was once described by Reuters as a “bankroller of Arab Spring revolts in alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Following the fall of former president Mohammed Morsi, who was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian military has been engaged in fighting terrorism in the Sinai. The main perpetrator of terror activity in the Sinai Peninsula has been Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a Muslim Brotherhood affiliated radical Islamist group.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, also known as “Defenders of Jerusalem”, has mounted several devastating terrorist attacks and targeted assassinations on Egyptian citizens since the beginning of 2012. While their methods were unanimously condemned by the international community, President Morsi refused to get involved in stopping his fellow Brothers’ advances. Morsi largely accelerated their dominance over the Sinai when following his inauguration, he released almost all of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis members from prison.

To demonstrate Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis’ unshakeable connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, one needs to look no further than their slogan, which was singled out as a motto of utmost importance by MB founder Hassan al Banna: “Fight them until there is no fitnah [discord], and [until] the religion, all of it, is for Allah.” [Qur’an, Sura VIII, verse 39]

Throughout history, the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda has been inextricably linked through Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian Islamist activist who was viewed as the intellectual leader for both movements. During his time in politics, Qutb became a one of the most prominent voices for the Muslim Brotherhood. All three of Al Qaeda’s former top leaders: Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Saif al-Aldel, were Muslim Brotherhood members and adamant Qutb followers.

Egypt has its presidential elections scheduled for next week. The leading candidate is General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was largely responsible for the ouster of Morsi in Egypt’s second revolution, which arguably came as a result of the Muslim Brotherhood leader’s tyrannical reign following the “Arab Spring”.

A prominent Al Jazeera anchor with close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement praising the murders of police officers and advocating attacks on journalists who stand with Egypt’s current government.

Ahmed Mansour’s statement was reported Saturday on the Brotherhood’s own web site, Ikhwan Online. It blamed police and journalists for supporting last summer’s military intervention which ousted President Mohamed Morsi – the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate – from office just one year into his term.

Those who “retaliate against the criminal officers, are the ones who will help in overthrowing the coup,” Mansour’s statement said, according to Ikhwan Online. “They are those which will destroy the economy of the coup. They are those which will decisively prevent the return of tourism.”

Mansour’s statement also criticized “the treasonous media” for siding with the military in toppling Morsi last July. The military violently quashed protest camps demanding Morsi’s return to power, killing hundreds of people.

“Considering the media partners in all the massacres is correct, and their being punished at the hands of the movements today is not a terrorist act, but act of heroism,” Mansour’s statement said.

The article was quickly removed by the Brotherhood, however, and Mansour denies making the statement. He claims that he is being set up by Egypt’s military government.

“Coup agencies misled dozens of news sites, including Ikhwan Online [the Muslim Brotherhood] by spreading an article in my name, with incitement to murder,” Mansour wrote on Twitter Sunday. “I proclaim my innocence of this prattle.”

Tricking the Brotherhood would be quite an accomplishment. Mansour has been identified as a Brotherhood member and has long had close relations with the group.

This is not the first time Mansour claims to have been set up. Days after Morsi’s ouster, the Brotherhood published a report attributed to Mansour which claimed Egypt’s new interim president was a Seventh Day Adventist, “which is a Jewish sect,” the article said.

The new leader wanted to move the Muslim-majority country closer to Christianity, Mansour said.

It also said that Mansour accused opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei of refusing to join Egypt’s Islamist-led Shura Council because the council denies the Holocaust.

Mansour denied making those statements, too, and the Brotherhood deleted its posting. But it remains posted elsewhere and its contents were translated and posted by a group which monitors the group’s publications:

“This is a token gesture offered to the Jews by ElBaradei so that he can become President of the Republic in the fake elections that the military will guard and whose results they will falsify in their interests…All with the approval of America, Israel and the Arabs, of course,” the Brotherhood article quoted from Mansour’s statement, which reportedly came from his Facebook page.

Mansour said he had no Facebook page at that time, however, so “everything that was published in my name through Facebook is false.”

But Mansour has entertained anti-Christian conspiracy theories on Al-Jazeera. During a 2010 interview on his “Without Borders” program, he asked about the Coptic Church’s “dominance over the country in Egypt and the Coptic demands for more rights.”

Mansour asked about an alleged shipment of weapons and explosives smuggled in by Coptic officials. Since the coup, Muslim Brotherhood members and other Islamists have attacked Coptic churches and communities, blaming them for Morsi’s fall.

But it is the Copts who posed the threat, Mansour’s guest said in 2010. The imported weapons would be stored inside churches.

“Christians hoarding weapons in churches can only mean one thing: that they intend to use them against Muslims,” Mohamed Selim al-Awa said.

“The weapons that the Copts bring and store in a church can have no purpose other than to be used in the future against the Muslims,” he added predicting that Copts were “preparing for war against the Muslims.”

Al-Awa later said his remarks had been misinterpreted.

It is difficult to see how so many lines are getting crossed between the Brotherhood and Al-Jazeera, and between the Brotherhood and Mansour, the network’s anchor.

In his 2007 book, (Un)civil War of Words: Media and Politics in the Arab World, Egyptian scholar Mamoun Fandy wrote that “Qatar ‘gave’ part of Al-Jazeera to the Muslim Brotherhood. The director of the station, Waddah Khanfar, is a Muslim Brother, Sheikh [Yusuf] Qaradawi, the TV star of the Muslim Brotherhood, has a regular show on Al-Jazeera, and another second-generation Muslim Brotherhood member, Ahmed Mansour, has two shows on Al-Jazeera: Shahed ala al-Asre (A witness to history) and Bila Hudoud (Without borders).”

The network’s bias toward the Brotherhood prompted nearly two dozen staffers to resign in protest last summer.

Al Jazeera America launched last summer, promising “fact-based, in-depth news.” And while there may be a different tone and style, both branches of the network remain funded by, and answerable to, the same Qatari bosses.

“The television channels of the coup and its newspapers and intellectuals are all with all their power launching large-scale attack against me using an article they faked and publishing it in my name,” he wrote on Twitter Monday morning. “The curse of God upon these lying murderers.”

After just two months on the air, Al Jazeera America is losing ground in the US.

The US offshoot of the Mideast news outfit managed fewer than half of the viewers who tuned in to its predecessor, Al Gore’s Current TV.

Al Jazeera America has averaged just 13,000 viewers a day since its Aug. 20 launch — on par with a public access channel. In the 25- to 54-year-old audience sought by advertisers, it drew 5,000 viewers.

The ratings are so low, they are considered a “scratch” and aren’t reported by Nielsen.

“We are making large investments in programming and marketing,” an Al Jazeera America spokesperson said Sunday.

By comparison, 31,000 viewers tuned into Current TV a year ago.

Currently, Al Jazeera America is carried in about 44 million US households. The network lost millions of households when Time Warner Cable dropped it shortly after its debut.

The No. 2 cable provider has agreed to make Al Jazeera America available in about 10 million homes. Despite that, the news channel is the smallest of fry. Last Thursday, Even with Time Warner Cable on board, Al Jazeera America has a long way to go in its mission to compete with mainstream rivals. Leader Fox News drew 353,000 total viewers, while CNN notched 174,000 and MSNBC grabbed 121,000.

Al Jazeera America is trying to attract a US audience despite a deep distrust in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and criticism that it harbors an anti-US bias.

The network’s financial backer, the government of Qatar, paid a hefty $500 million in January to purchase Current TV and gain US distribution.

It has been almost two months since Al Jazeera America (AJA), the American outlet of Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera, debuted in the U.S. Viewers of the network note its impressive graphics and lack of commercials, a welcomed change of pace compared to most cable news in the States. The network also employs a host of familiar faces that help bolster AJA’s image as just another news network. It remains to be seen just how radical AJA will let its coverage becomes once it grows more assured of its acceptance into the mainstream. Already AJA’s Sunni sponsors have let the mask slip.

Despite a petition drive to exclude AJA from cable distribution, AJA’s coverage is definitely on the rise. Last spring and summer, AJA went on a hiring spree, hiring producers, writers, technicians, and hundreds of other staffers. AJA also snapped up big news names like Joie Chen, David Shuster and Soledad O’Brien, and then opened 12 American bureau offices. Broadcasting began August 20.

Of course, AJA is not just another news network. AJA’s parent company, Al Jazeera, is owned by the government of Qatar, the tiny, oil-rich, Sunni Muslim state in the Persian Gulf, bordering Saudi Arabia. Qatar is ruled by Shiekh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who, despite his personal business dealings with Israel, is pro-Hamas, pro-Muslim Brotherhood and anti-Israel. Al Jazeera’s news coverage has reflected those views.

In fact, Al Jazeera is so pro-Muslim Brotherhood it recently got kicked out of Egypt for instigating Muslim Brotherhood protests there. In 2008, Al Jazeera’s Beirut bureau chief threw an on-air birthday party for Samir Kuntar, convicted killer of an Israeli family.

Americans learned to hate Al Jazeera in the days after 9-11, when Al Jazeera first repeated the charge that American Jews were warned beforehand of the attacks in New York, then repeatedly broadcast interviews of Osama bin Laden. Al Jazeera has even described the War on Terror as “so-called,” and suicide bombings as “paradise operations.”

Through the years Al Jazeera has had on-air personalities who were blatantly anti-Semitic. One popular Al Jazeera show, “Shari’a and Life,” features a host who regularly criticizes Shiites, Americans and Jews.

During the height of the Iraqi war years, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld described Al Jazeera as “the mouthpiece of Al Qaeda,” while President George W. Bush referred to Al Jazeera as “a terrorist organization.” Upon the initial invasion of Afghanistan and later in Iraq, US military forces bombed local Al Jazeera offices because of the support they had given terrorists.

The Economist is a top advertiser on Al Jazeera America. The Economist is a weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in London.

Al Jazeera America is down to only eight advertisers now that REVshare stopped advertising. One hundred twenty nine (129) companies have stopped advertising since January 2013. The eight companies that continue to advertise include: Procter and Gamble, The Economist, National Express (Xhose), Guthy Renker (Proactiv), Hair Club, Telebrands (Stone Wave Cooker), National Tax Help Center and Swift Maintenance (Flex Seal). Xhose had stopped advertising for several weeks but recently returned to become the eighth advertiser.

Al Jazeera is a news company that is owned by a non-democratic, monarch styled emirate who does not afford citizens freedom of the press, espouses Islamic Sharia law, backs the leader of Hamas and supports the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Economist has the right to choose where they use their advertising dollars. You have the same right to object and choose publications from other companies that won’t give your consumer dollars to Al Jazeera. Florida Family Association has prepared an email for you to send to officials at The Economist.

To send your email, please click the following link, enter your name and email address then click the “Send Your Message” button. You may also edit the subject or message text if you wish.

Two weeks ago, Al Jazeera America launched, beaming into 48 million homes across the country. The media company that allowed Osama bin Laden to use it as a vehicle to communicate with jihadists around the world is now on your TV screen and you are paying for it. The network pushed its way onto basic cable packages with several providers. If you subscribe to Verizon, Comcast, Dish Network or DirecTV, you are forced to subsidize Al Jazeera’s propaganda as part of your cable bill whether you like it or not.

I represent a district about 70 miles north of where the Twin Towers once stood. Thousands of my constituents commute to Manhattan every day. People from this area perished in the savage attacks of September 11, 2001. Serviceman from our community made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting to prevent another attack. Four Marines I served with left everything they had on the battlefields of Iraq. When constituents contacted my office to express outrage that Al Jazeera America is now part of their basic cable package, I took it very seriously.

We should not have to fund Al Jazeera through our cable bills. Americans do not want to pay for their vile propaganda. I’m launching a petition drive calling on cable companies to drop Al Jazeera from their basic cable packages.

Al Jazeera was founded in 1996 by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and is owned by his government. Some have claimed that Al Jazeera is independent of the dictatorship that runs Qatar. But the emir’s cousin Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim al-Thani runs the network despite not having a journalism background.

In late 2012 former vice president Al Gore and his partners put their fledgling liberal television network Current TV up for sale. Gore and company accepted Al Jazeera’s offer of a half billion dollars on January 2nd 2013. A spokesman for Gore’s group said they chose Al Jazeera because“Al Jazeera was founded with the same goals we had for Current,” which was “to give voice to those whose voices are not typically heard” and “to speak truth to power.”

Verizon, Comcast, DirecTV and Dish Network already carry Al Jazeera America, and Al Jazeera has plans to force their way onto more cable bills. Time Warner Cable, which carried Current TV, dropped Al Jazeera America. AT &T U-Verse was originally going to carry the network but backed out and is now being sued by Al Jazeera for breach of contract. Cablevision and Cox Communications do not air Al Jazeera America.

My constituents and I are alarmed that as subscribers, we are being forced against our will to pay for a network that is owned by a foreign dictatorship and has a long history of anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism and support for Islamic terror.

For example, Al Jazeera America has already run a show about closing Guantanamo, painting terrorists as victims and the US as oppressors. The Arabic Al Jazeera threw a birthday party for terrorist Samir Kuntar, celebrating him as a “pan-Arab hero.” Kuntar murdered an Israeli father and his 4-year-old daughter in their home. The Israeli family’s mother accidentally suffocated their toddler son as she tried to muffle his cries while hiding from Kuntar. Al Jazeera paid for fireworks to celebrate Kuntar’s release from prison. In the days after September 11th, Al Jazeera reported as fact the anti-Semitic lie that Jewish Americans had been told not to come to work at the World Trade Center on 9/11. CNN reportedthat a document found in bin Laden’s compound following his death referenced a meeting with the Al Jazeera bureau chief in Pakistan.

Thanks to Al Gore selling out his failing Current TV, Al Jazeera TV has come to America with their own cable TV network and news bureaus in several cities across the USA.

Patriotic Americans have reason to be concerned.

Al Jazeera, is an Islamist television network based out of Doha, Qatar (more on Qatar very shortly). It is one of the LEAST independent media outlets in the world. It was started by seed money provided by the emir of Qatar and is to this day owned by the Islamic state of Qatar. That same emir of Qatar at the time later became infamous for massively funding the Muslim Brotherhood around the world and also providing aid to Jihadist “rebels” in Libya and Syria.

Al Jazeera claims to be “independent,” but since when is state-owned media considered “independent?” Any US news network that was owned by the US government would be immediately and justifiably ostracized by the public and the media at large.

Back in January, when Al Gore sold out to the oil-rich Islamists, theWall Street Journaljustifiably slammed the transaction and had this to say in taking the cloak off Osama Bin Laden’s favorite TV channel:

“…the network reflects the interests of the government that runs it—making it akin to Vladimir Putin’s Russia Today and Beijing’s Xinhua. The emir of Qatar, Hamid bin Khalifa Al Thani, appointed his cousin as chairman of Al Jazeera. The emir was last in the news for donating $400 million to Hamas, a terrorist organization.

In 2008, Al Jazeera threw an on-air party for Samir Kuntar when he was released from an Israeli prison. Kuntar led a Palestine Liberation Front terrorist team that kidnapped an Israeli family in 1979. He shot the father and killed the 4-year-old daughter by smashing her head against rocks along the beach. In footage available on YouTube, Al Jazeera’s Beirut bureau chief hands Kuntar a scimitar to cut the celebratory cake and says: “This is the sword of the Arabs, Samir.”

Moreover, it is very important to take into account the kind of state that owns Al Jazeera.

Qatar is an absolute monarchy, a dictatorship if you will. It’s “parliament” is no more than a consultative body, with no authority at all. In fact, its members are all appointed by the emir.

Qatar is also the only Wahhabi Islamic nation other than Saudi Arabia. Perhaps this is why Qatar is the only nation to have allowed the Afghan Taliban to establish a political office in Doha, the capital. Wahhabi Islam is the branch of Islam that gave birth to Al Qaeda.

Qatar is also a Shariah state. The government uses Sunni Shariah law as the basis of its criminal and civil regulations. Shariah is applied to all family law and inheritance issues as well.

But perhaps the most significant aspect of Qatar, the Wahhabi dictatorship that owns Al Jazeera, and now Al Gore’s Current TV, is its role in Jihad.

We know from the Wikileaks documents that US intelligence officials consider Qatar “the worst on counterterrorism.”

According to Wikileaks, Qatari security was “hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals.”

Moreover, Qatari charities, including those associated with the royal family, support Jihadist terrorist organizations:

But U.S. officials may have reason to be suspicious of Qatar. Members of the royal family reportedly hosted Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, in the late ’90s and may have helped him evade U.S. capture. In 2005, officials discovered another link between Qatar and al Qaeda: Qatar paid al Qaeda (and some speculate it may still be paying) millions of dollars each year so al Qaeda wouldn’t attack it. Qatar struck the deal before the 2003 Iraq invasion and renewed it in March of 2005, when an Egyptian suicide bomber attacked a theater in Doha. Many believed the bomber was part of al Qaeda. “We’re not sure that the attack was carried out by al Qaeda, but we ratified our agreement just to be on the safe side,” a Qatari official said at the time. “We are a soft target and prefer to pay to secure our national and economical interests. We are not the only ones doing so.”

It’s true: Qatar is one of many nations that have allegedly funded Islamic movements to save their own citizens, and that funding was another topic of discussion slated for last January’s meeting. “Officials should make known USG concerns about the financial support to Hamas by Qatari charitable organizations and our concerns about the moral support Hamas receives from Yousef Al-Qaradawi,” the December, 2009 cable said.

In other words, Qatar sends money to Al Qaeda, Qatar supports HAMAS and Qatari charities fund Jihad. Oh, I can’t allow that Qaradawi reference to get by…People who have followed events in Egypt are probably familiar with Yousef al Qaradawi. He is the world’s foremost Sunni Shariah scholar with extensive, longstanding ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. He was banished from his native Egypt by President Mubarak, and was given refuge by Qatar.

While in Qatar, Qaradawi managed to get banned from travel to both the US and the UK and he also headed up the Union of Good, an umbrella group of some 56 Islamic charities. The US Treasury Department designated the Union of Good as a terrorist entity a few years back.

Qaradawi has also, for years, been one of the most popular on-air personalities on Al Jazeera TV as the host of “Shariah and Life,” with an audience of 60 million viewers. This is particularly disturbing since, as recently as July, Qaradawi used Al Jazeera to call on members of the Muslim Brotherhood to murder those who “do not obey” Morsi.

Folks, this isn’t “independent” media, it’s pure propaganda for our Jihadist enemies. Now, you won’t see the worst of this drivel on Al Jazeera America; its propaganda will be much more subtle and sophisticated to appeal to an American audience, but you should know that Al Jazeera has been supporting worldwide Jihad for years.

Christopher Holton is Vice President for Outreach at the Center for Security Policy. Mr. Holton came to the Center after serving as president and marketing director of Blanchard & Co. and editor-in-chief of the Blanchard Economic Research Unit from 1990 to 2003. As chief of the Blanchard Economic Research Unit in 2000, he conceived and commissioned the Center for Security Policy special report “Clinton’s Legacy: The Dangerous Decade.” Holton is a member of the Board of Advisers of WorldTribune.com

If you thought Walter Cronkite was bad with his broadcasts that propagandized against American efforts during the Vietnam War, get ready for Al Jazeera America. You may be getting it on your cable provider along with 40 million other American households beginning on August 20, 2013.

Al Jazeera, the state propaganda arm of the dictatorial Qatar government is known for stirring up Al Qaeda with images of Osama bin Laden around the time of 9/11. More recently, it cheered the overthrow of the Egyptian government and ignored the sexual assault of CBS news correspondent Lara Logan as she covered protests there. The headquarters are to be in our nation’s capitol, at the non-profit Newseum center, even though its operations violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act because they are not labeled as foreign propaganda (a law enacted to protect us from Nazi propaganda).

Ironically, the largest and oldest professional journalism educators’ association, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), enjoyed the participation of Al Jazeera in several panels and events at their annual meeting earlier this month.

Two of these events have been recorded by Cliff Kincaid. One presentation by William Youmans, Assistant Professor at the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington, concerned “the discourse of terrorism.”

Youmans, as the tape reveals, was formerly Civil Rights and Media Relations Manager at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and a Research Fellow for Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont. Fellow academics listened respectfully as Youmans performed an academic sleight-of-hand, using the post-modern tricks of the trade to make the case for eliminating the word “terrorism.” He questioned definitions (“Terrorism is notoriously difficult to define” with “ambiguities” and “institutional definitions” that exclude “state terrorism”), used moral equivalence (questioning why the word terrorism was used for the 2013 Boston Marathon attack and not for the Sikh temple shooting at Oak Creek, Wisconsin, by a lone gunman), made claims of discrimination (the “racialization” of Arabs and Muslims), and charged Americans with militarism (“policy outcomes” of “hawkishness”).

In another video, of a panel called “News Coverage of Terrorism,” moderated by Walter Cronkite School of Journalism professor Bill Silcock, Abderrahim Foukara of Al Jazeera replied to Kincaid’s questions about Al Jazeera’s funding also with moral equivalence. He claimed that no journalist can ever claim independence whether in a “dictatorship, semi-dictatorship, or democracy. “ He maintained that journalists are equally beholden to their paymasters, whether of a dictatorial regime or the “military-industrial complex” of the United States. He and the other panelists from various universities seemed to be oblivious, however, to the idea of freedom of the press and the First Amendment, which the Qatar regime does not have.

Most of the professors attending this conference assign textbooks that recount the journalistic high points of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. They tell students that journalists are brave, principled truth-finders and defenders of the public. The popular textbook The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel includes at the top of the list of journalistic principles: maintaining independence, monitoring power, being loyal to citizens, and upholding the truth.

Haifa, Israel -With seemingly limitless wealth and a penchant for often supporting both sides of the argument, the State of Qatar has become a highly significant player in Middle East power-politics. Recent events in Egypt and Syria, however, have put the brakes on Qatar’s ambitions. In this second part of his analysis of its attempt to influence regional politics, Paul Alster considers how much its flamboyant foreign policy, centered on furthering the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood, might be coming back to haunt Qatar.

July 3 was not a good day for Mohammed Morsi. The Muslim Brotherhood’s man was ousted from power after just a year as Egypt’s president, having lost the essential confidence of the country’s powerful military leaders. July 3 was also a black day for the State of Qatar, the country which had nailed its colors and its money firmly to the Muslim Brotherhood mast, and which suddenly found itself the target of outrage on the Egyptian street and beyond.

Morsi came to power in a democratic election, but misinterpreted the meaning of democracy. He and his Muslim Brotherhood backers – primarily Qatar – appeared to believe that having won the election, they could run the country according to their decree, not according to democratic principles as the majority had expected. A series of draconian laws, a spiralling economic crisis, and a feeling on the Egyptian street that the Muslim Brotherhood was paid handsomely by foreign forces, spurred street protests of historic proportions, prompting the military to intervene.

With Morsi gone, Qatar suddenly became “persona non grata” in Egypt.

Qatar sought to extend its influence and Muslim Brotherhood-inspired view of how countries like Egypt, Syria, Libya, and others should be. Qatar was also playing a power-game against Saudi Arabia, another hugely wealthy regional power whose vision of an even more strictly Islamist way of life for Muslims drove a wedge between the two parties.

Another seismic change hit the region just nine days before Morsi’s fall. The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani – in power since overthrowing his own father back in 1995 – voluntarily abdicated in favor of his 33-year-old son, Sheikh Tamim.

Tamim, educated in England and a graduate of the prestigious Sandhurst Military Academy, became the region’s youngest leader, with the eyes of the world watching to see if he would maintain his father’s aggressive policy of extending Qatar’s regional influence. Few could have imagined that he would very quickly find himself at the center of a major political crisis as Egypt – a country in which Qatar had so much credibility and money invested – imploded before his eyes.

Within hours of Morsi’s departure, the streets of Cairo were awash with anti-Qatari banners accompanied by the obligatory anti-US and anti-Israel slogans. Al Jazeera – a staunch promoter of the Muslim Brotherhood view in Egypt – was vilified, its reporters attacked on the streets, its offices ransacked. Al Jazeera also had been hit seven months earlier after supporting Mohammed Morsi’s crackdown on young Egyptian demonstrators opposed to the rapid Islamisation of Egypt under the new government.

Mordechai Kedar is an Israeli scholar of Arabic literature and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University. He holds the Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University. Kedar is an academic expert on the Israeli Arab population. Listen to him debate on Al Jazeera the issue of Israeli settlements and the so called “occupied” territories:

Weiner’s accepting a donation from an Al-Jazeera lobbyist raises questions no less troubling than his recent sexting scandal.

New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin attend a news conference in New York, where Weiner said he would stay in the race despite admitting he sent newly revealed sexually explicit online chats and photos even after he resigned from Congress. (Photo: Reuters)

Anthony Weiner, until now a front-runner in the mayoral race of New York City, has admitted to more sexual indiscretions and the media is all over the story. Sex is always a homerun for headline writers, causing Weiner’s other controversy to fade into the background: A lobbyist for Al-Jazeera has donated to his campaign, and that’s fine with Weiner.

The story that Weiner received a $4,950 (the maximum legal donation) from Al-Jazeera lobbyist John Merrigan was just starting to gain traction in the media when the latest scandal broke. It’s certainly worth asking why an Al-Jazeera lobbyist is so attracted to his campaign, given Al-Jazeera’s well-earned reputation as a pro-Islamist, anti-American propaganda outlet.

Al-Jazeera is based in Qatar, the main state sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood. When Brotherhood spiritual leader Yousef al-Qaradawi isn’t on the air for his weekly show, Al-Jazeera shows content likebirthday parties for terrorists. Al-Jazeera’s bias is so blatant that 22 employees resigned in protest after the network instructed them to slant their coverage of the recent events in Egypt in favor of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

Al-Jazeera knows courting politicians is one way to help overcome public opinion and, apparently, one of its lobbyists sees Weiner as an asset. That’s a lot more important than the perverted things Weiner said under the name “Carlos Danger.”

“They [Al-Jazeera] have spread hate and lies against Jews, not only here in New York, but across the world. The right thing to do is to give this money back. Anthony should do exactly that,” said City Councilman Lew Fidler, who is also running for the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor.

Weiner responded to the criticism of his Al-Jazeera-linked donation with mockery and said he never met the donor.

“I’m not a supporter of Al-Jazeera. I’m not taking money from Al-Jazeera. This makes me smile, but this is what happens, I guess, you start doing well … old politics kick in … People want to sell you up a bit to slow your momentum,” he said.

The connection between Weiner and an Al-Jazeera lobbyist should bring renewed attention to Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin.

For more on Huma Abedin go here and here. As Walid Shoebat says, ” If Huma’s loyalties do lie with the Brotherhood, becoming the first lady of the city that was hit on 9/11 would be a symbolic victory greater than the Ground Zero mosque”.

Al Jazeera, the Arab news network that has provided a venue for Osama bin Laden videos, the Muslim Brotherhood and a birthday bash for a convicted murderer, is coming to America.

Al Jazeera Media Network, led and financed by the Al Thani dynasty that has ruled the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar for nearly two centuries, plans to launch the Al Jazeera America (AJA) cable channel Aug. 20 from an anchor desk in New York City.

While the media company claims that the U.S. is falling in love with its brand of news, nearly two dozen of its reporters in Egypt quit in protest this month, saying Al Jazeera’s leadership directed them to produce pro-Muslim Brotherhood stories.

“Al Jazeera’s decision to create a U.S.-based news channel was based in part on the fact that Americans have already shown a great demand for its news and programs,” a company statement reads.

The network plans to unleash reporters on U.S. domestic issues, perhaps in the same way that its Arabic channel covers the Muslim world. A third channel, Al Jazeera English, has been broadcasting international stories since 2006 and takes a particularly critical look at the United States.

“They have come a long way,” said Paul Janensch, journalism professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University. “They have been criticized in the past for being pro-Arab. My response to that is: Well, our networks are pro-America. Al Jazeera is not pro-regimes. They are not pro-governments. But they are sympathetic to the Arab culture and the so-called ‘street.’

“My impression was they were doing a pretty good job of giving you an accurate, reliable presentation of the news in the areas they were interested in,” said Mr. Janensch, a longtime newspaper reporter and editor.

Analysts will watch for whether Al Jazeera America becomes another voice for Islamic causes, given its ownership’s track record.